Improved stave-cutting machine



P. WELCH.. STAVE UTTING MHUTE.- No. 40,783. l 1 Patented Deo; 1, 1 863.

UNITED STATES PATENT GEEICE.

PETER WELCH, OF OSWEGO, NEV YORK.

IMPROVED STAVE-CUTTING MACHINE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 40,783, dated December l, 1863.

To all whom it 'may concern:

'Be "t known that 1, PETER WELCH, of Oswego, in the State of New vYork, have invented a new and Improved Machine for Sawing Staves; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and correct description of the same, reference heilig had to the accnnpanying drawings, in which- Figure lis a perspective view of my improved stave-sawing machine complete. Fig. 2 is a topvie'w of the same, with the carriage removed. Fig. 3 is a transverse section ou the line :v of Fig. l, and Fig, et is'a detail view.

Th'e same part is marked by the same letter wherever it occurs.

This invention relates to that class of machines in which the stave is sawed from the bolt of timber to the proper curve by a dished eireularsaw, and it consists in an improved automatic mode of moving the carriage back and forth longitudinally to and from the saw without reversing the motion of the drivingshaft, and in an improved arrangement of devices for holding the bolt on the carriage and feeding it transversely to the saw,all substantially as hereinafter more fully described.

To enable others to make and use my stavesawing machine, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation, referring to the drawings, in which- A marks the frame of the machine; B, the loose pulley, and C the fast pulley, which receives motion from any suitable prime mover. l) is a band-wheel, driving by means of band E the pulley F on-the transverse shaft G, to the farther end of which is attached the dished saw H, by which the staves are sawed from the bolt. The band-wheel D is attached to the main shaft l, which has on it the worm J, i

engaging with toothed pinion K on the end of the longitudinal shaft L. This shaft Ais supported at either end by the brackets L and Bf, and carries at its inner end the beveled toothed wheel M, which meshes into a similar i position of shaft l? engages curved rack U, also on the under side of said carriage. These vracks are parallel to one another, and are at such a distance that when rack T is engaged by the wheel'lt the rack U will be out of gear with the Wheel S, and vice versa. The shaft P is loosely pivoted on the bracket C', so as to have free motion in any direction. Its upper end is held by the vibrating arm F, (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2,) which is pivoted tothe under side of the table A. It passes through a slot in the end of the bent lever D', which has its ful'crum at e' on the curved cross-framing G', as seen in'Fig. 2. The handle of this lever projects beyond the right side of the machine, and it is held in either its forward or rearward position by theV-shaped spring E", as clearly shown in Fig. 1. The movements of this lever control those of the shaft P, and throw the wheels R and S, respectively, into and lout of gear with their respective racks T and U, alter nately. the front or power end of the machine, the wheel R is thrown into gear with rack T, and when said lever is moved toward the opposite end of the machine the wheel S is thrown into gear with rack U. Attached tal'ever D is a curved arm, 11', the upper end of which projects above the level of the rails XV and Y, on which the carriage V moves. From arm H'- another arm, I', runs back in a curved direction under the table to the vslot in thev rearcfl the table, through which the pin b, attacli'd! to arm I', projects up above the level ofthe rail \V. By moving pin b back and forth, in its slot, lever` D is moved backend forth and the wheels lt and S are thrown into and out of gear with their respective racks. The parallel curved rails \V and Y support and guide the carriage V, which moves upon them on suitable wheels, fw. (See Fig. 3.) To the under side of carriage V the curved racks T and U are attached. They are parallel to each other, but placed at different levels, so -as to engage the wheels lt and S, respectively. A stop, t, on the rear end of the carriage is so placed as to come in contact with the pin b when the carriage is near the end of its rear Ward course, and thus dra-w back the lever D and throw the proper rack and pinion into gear to eiiect the return of the carriage to the l front or power end of the machine. The

Vhen the lever D is moved toward spring-catch c on thc table, Fig. 2, controls the' motion of dog a by acting against a downward-projecting portion, s, of its lower and inner arm. (See Fig. 4.) The stop d on the table A' is adjustable by means ot a screw and nut, (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2,) and controls the movements of the dog lo by acting on thelower arm, on, of said dog. A slide, J', moves in ways on the top of the carriage V at right angles to the movement of the carriage. It has an arm, j, projecting backward, which has arack on it upper surface, and also one on its side, as seen in Figs. land 4. l The upper rack is controlled by thepawl or dog k, and the side rack bythe dog n, which is pivoted' to carriage V at p, and acted on by spring 1. The pawl la is attached to an aim projecting from the carriage V underneath the armj of the slide, as seen in Fig. 3, and it is held in an upright position by two springs, l

and o, as shown. The lower arm, m, of `this pawl is operated by the adjustable stop d. which retracts it after the carriage has passed the saw, so that when released it will move the slide J one tooth nearer to the saw. Attached to one corner of the slide is the fixed dog h, Fig. 1, and on its opposite end is fixed .the compound dog or lever g, which is pivoted to the slide at f, and4 to the lever K' at e. The lever K' is pivoted to the slide at c, and is held in any given position by the spring-rack The dogs g and h hold the bolt 'of timber from which the staves are to be sawed rmly between them. I f' The operation is as follows: Power being applied to the driving-pulley C, the saw is .set in motion by the band E, which drives the pulley F on the saw-shaft. The worm J imparts motion to the pinion K on the end of shaft L, which, by means of bevel cog-wheels M and N, 'causes the uprightshaft P to re. volve, together with the two gear-wheels It S, which are attached to its upper end. By means of the lever D' the smaller wheel, S, is thrown into gear with the'rack U, and the carriage V, Von which the bolt to be sawed is placed, moved with the proper speed up to and past the saw H, which cuts ott a stave "'z'om the block. When the carriage gets to Ae endA of its course, the stop t on its rear' end comes in contact with the upper end of the curved arm Il' and forces the lever D'. forwarchso as to throw thel'arger wheel,l{, into gear with rack T, which causes the carriage to return rapidly to its starting-point. Both motions of the carriage are thus eiected without reversing the motion of the vshaft P. Vhen the carriage has returned to its startingpoint, the stop tcomes into contact with the pin b, and again throws the wheel S into gear with the rack U, which carries the carriage again forward past the saw. timber from which the staves are to be sawed is placed on the slide J', where itis firmly held between the dogs g and h, the dog h being securely held in the bolt by means of the rack "i, which fixes the position of the lever K'. The slide J' is held firmly in position on the carriage V by means of the two pawls k and n, the first preventing it from moving backward, and the latter from moving for-V ward. The teeth of the upper rack on arm j are placed at a distance apart equal to the 'thickness it is desired to give to the staves.

The dogs or pawls lo' and n are controlled, re spectively, by the stop .d on the table A' and the spring-catch c. (See Fig. 2.) As .the carriage V is moving back to clear the saw,

the lower end, s, of dog fr, (see Fi g. 4,) comes in contact with the spring-catch c. and the pa'wl n is thrown out of the rack on the side of arm j. This leaves the slide free to move toward the saw. TheV pawl k is then retracted the distance of one tooth by its lower end, m, coming in contact with stop d, and, when released, moves the slide toward the saw a distance equal to thev thickness of a stave. As

soon as that is effected, the side dog, fn, im-

pelled by `its spring r, engagcs'with atodth of the side rack, and prevents the further ad#v Vance of the slide toward the saw. Ift also co operates with pawl k yin holding the slide in place, as before described. After `the block" of timber has been sawed into the whole num-I ber of staves it will yield, the pawl 7c is thrown.

out of its rack, and the slide -J pulled back by hand, the remnant of the timber removed, andl a fresh block inserted for a repetition of the operation. v

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim therein as new, and desire .to secure by Letters Pat-ent, is

`1.'The combination of the lever D', shaft P, wheelsv R and S, and racks T and U, sub; .Y

stantially in the manner and for the purpose described.

2. The combination of the double-racked` arm j with the pawls 7c andai., arranged andV The bolt of 

